Crescendo Giving Circle

We believe all children should experience the joy of live music as part of their education. The Crescendo Giving Circle supports a long-term music education program in Kwinana that has the ability to change children’s lives.

The Crescendo Program is delivered by WASO at two primary schools in Kwinana, an expanding and culturally and linguistically diverse community in the heartland of Perth’s industrial area. In addition to receiving weekly music lessons at school, students at these schools also have the chance to attend WASO’s Primary Schools Concerts at Perth Concert Hall as well as our Education Chamber Orchestra (EChO) concerts at local venues in Kwinana.

Crescendo starts as a vocal based program by encouraging students to use their inbuilt instrument and helps ‘give them a voice’ in the first two years, before moving on to string instruments. Students will then play together in ensembles and be able to take instruments home to practice. Each year, a new group of Pre-Primary students will join the program until 2020, when all students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 will be participating.

The Crescendo Program is based on the international El Sistema model, which, established in Venezuela in 1975, seeks to empower children from disadvantaged backgrounds through music education, using it as a tool to learn transferable life skills and help them reach their full potential. This program is now running successfully in over 55 countries worldwide, and its concept is simple - beyond the music, an orchestra is the very definition of togetherness, a place where children learn to listen and respect each other. El Sistema has developed an internationally proven record of improving behaviour, numeracy, literacy, social skills and fine motor skills, as well as lowering truancy and youth violence in disadvantaged communities.

A program like Crescendo must be multi-year in order to have impact. A single powerful experience is not enough in a young person’s life, especially for those who live with difficulty of circumstance, and WASO is committed to offering long-term positive learning experiences.

WASO designs delivers and manages all aspects of the program, which costs around $250,000 per annum. Crucially, it is provided to the schools and families completely free of charge to ensure the benefits are available to all students. In order to increase much needed funding for this long-term project, we have launched the Crescendo Giving Circle.

How you can make a difference.

To join the Crescendo Giving Circle we are asking for a gift of $1,500 annually, which is approximately the cost of one child participating in the program per annum. Each child in the program will be participating for seven years, from Pre-Primary through to Year 6. With the nature of the program requiring sustainable funding, we encourage annual renewal of your gift to cover a child’s full tenure at school, however, this is not obligatory and one-off donations are welcome.

Please join us to make a difference in Kwinana. From little things, big things grow.      

For more information please see our brochure here.

To learn more, please contact our Philanthropy Team on (08) 9326 0014 or philanthropy@waso.com.au.